Tauranga mayoral candidates fronted a room of about 200 and hundreds of other people via a live stream as part of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce Mayoral Debate.
It's not easy putting yourself up for public scrutiny, so thank you for coming, says Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Cowley.
'This is the time to demonstrate that you have the qualities and the temperament to the mayor of New Zealand's fifth largest city, a leader of an organisation with $4 billion of assets and a chairperson of a very diverse governance board with some very interesting council members.
'A good mayor needs to build the support of elected councillors and ensure meetings progress forward.”
Matt ran through the format of the night before handing the microphone over to the candidates.
John Robson, Kelvin Clout, Murray Guy, Tenby Powell, Greg Brownless, Christopher Stokes, Andrew Hollis, Les Wallen and Rangimarie Kingi were given to minutes to introduce themselves before facing some quick fire questions to kick the night off.
Candidates were then faced with pre-set questions directly from members of the Chamber of Commerce.
After 7pm, written questions from the audience were put forward for the mayoral candidates to answer.
The debate started just after 5.30pm and ran through until about 9pm.
'It was a relaxed atmosphere with candidates seated along a raised dais and taking turns at the microphone to speak about themselves before returning to answer questions,” says Rosalie Liddle Crawford who attended the debate.
'Matt Cowley and the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce did a great job of hosting the Meet the Mayoral Candidates night at Baycourt.
'It was very well run with candidates required to keep to time, which was an audience-pleaser.
'Often laughter rippled as candidates raced to fit their answer into the 90 seconds available.
'There were stabs at topics like climate change and a museum, but the region's economy, and the city's infrastructure and roading to support our economic growth was at the fore.”
Watch the live stream below or on the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.
2 comments
Fiasco
Posted on 29-08-2019 09:34 | By peecee09
Vote them all out. What a bunch of indecisive incompetents. Can’t make a decision ie Mount track,cruise ship hub, strand walkway,and other projects on hold.I’m over them all , let’s have a clean out.
Council rethink!
Posted on 29-08-2019 09:45 | By MarkFive
What amazes me is that those whom are/have been in council over the past, never admit to their own failings, but rather choose to lay the blame for most everything on split council decisions, failed reporting and inadequate ‘systems’. Tauranga City Council has systematically ruined our city over the last 6 years with diabolical planning and atrocious execution of much that they have been involved in. No foresight given for the future, and no care for their wastage and massive overspending. They and their myriad of compliant, so-called smarth-growth organisations have failed our city. I will not be voting for anyone who is, or has been part of this incompetence, and I urge others to do the same.
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